The Cast Of Wednesday And Where You've Seen Them Before
The creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky Wednesday Addams from "The Addams Family" is back with her own show "Wednesday." The Netflix series is helmed by "Beetlejuice" director, Tim Burton, and follows the titular character attempting to cope with life at the Nevermore Academy after being expelled from her traditional high school. But there's more as Wednesday is also faced with figuring out her emerging psychic powers while trying to solve a murder mystery that's haunted her family for 25 years.
Plus, at Nevermore, the Addams family progeny isn't the only troubled kid, as the esteemed academy also welcomes all manner of monsters and outliers — but that's not to say that the teen feels like she fits in any better. "Wednesday goes to a school of outcasts, but she's an outcast among outcasts," Burton explained to Variety. "... So, even though she's at a place for people like her, she doesn't like to join the party."
While there are plenty of big names filling up the cast of "Wednesday," there are a few that didn't make our list, because they likely won't be familiar. That includes a relative newcomer like Isaac Ordonez as Wednesday's brother, Pugsley, and Romanian actor, George Burcea, who plays Lurch. Still, the rest of the cast features an Oscar winner, a "Game of Thrones" star, a former teen icon, and an "SNL" fan favorite. So, keep scrolling. The suspense is over — at least for now.
Jenna Ortega is a burgeoning scream queen
Jenna Ortega plays the titular role in "Wednesday." In 2016, the actor staked her claim to fame as a Disney Channel star with her role as Harley Diaz in "Stuck In The Middle." However, you might also remember her as the young Jane in The CW's "Jane the Virgin." In 2019, Ortega landed a part that would change the trajectory of her career, playing Penn Badgley's tech-savvy neighbor, Ella in the Netflix psychological thriller, "You." Three years later, Ortega described her career ascent to Complex, saying, "I think it's kind of weird because it's happened all organically in a sense. I do remember leaving Disney Channel being really nervous because it was really hard to get into audition rooms."
After "You," Ortega became a horror film favorite, playing Phoebe in "The Babysitter: Killer Queen," and Lorraine in "X," as well as Tara Carpenter in 2022's hit requel, "Scream." In "The Fallout," the actor portrays Vada, a high school student traumatized in the aftermath of an active shooter. "It's really important to me that I tell stories that need to be heard, or that will make some sort of impact," Ortega told In Style about why she was drawn to the project. As for the appeal of her Netflix series, she told What to Watch, "Wednesday, she's been the one-liner, the end of a joke, she always hits it, and I think that's what people really love about her. But in this show, every scene is Wednesday."
Catherine Zeta-Jones is an Oscar-winning actor
Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays Morticia Addams in "Wednesday," is known for her stellar performances on the big screen. Her breakout role came in 1998's "The Mask of Zorro," alongside Antonio Banderas. In the film, she plays Elena, a sword-wielding vigilante's daughter, a role she reprised in the 2005 sequel. The following year, Zeta-Jones starred in "Entrapment" as Gin, a talented undercover thief. "I really wanted to do an American accent because I just didn't want to always be the British wench in ripped-corset dramas," the Welsh actor told The Morning Call about her role in the caper film.
In 2003, Zeta-Jones went on to win an Oscar for her performance as homicidal headliner, Velma Kelly in "Chicago." After that, she teamed up with George Clooney, starring as a woman seeking revenge on her cheating husband in the 2003 rom-com, "Intolerable Cruelty." "I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to portray a whole array of characters because there's only so many ball-breakers and murderesses I can play," she remarked.
On TV, Zeta-Jones played Olivia de Havilland on Season 1 of FX's "Feud." In 2021, she joined fellow Welsh actor Michael Sheen, to depict a forensic doctor in the second season of Fox's "Prodigal Son." "I'm always drawn toward the darker side of family, kind of dysfunctional-ness if that's a word," Zeta-Jones told Deadline about the show. "As dysfunctional as this particular family is, it's still a family at the end of the day." Curiously, the Addams family certainly fit that bill, too.
Luis Guzmán has played a lot of tough guys
Luis Guzmán, who plays Gomez Addams in "Wednesday," is a veteran film and TV actor. Known for taking on tough guy roles, he played an ambitious nightclub owner in the 1997 film, "Boogie Nights" and a DEA agent in 2000's "Traffic." If you're an "Oz" fan, you'll remember Guzmán for depicting the convicted killer, Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez. As for his most challenging role? "[Code Black] is the hardest show I've ever done in my whole career, and it has nothing to do with dialogue. It has to do with the fact that emotionally you're invested in it," he told Remezcla in 2015 about his role as head nurse, Salander on the CBS medical drama. "... You need to understand how rapidly things happen in a trauma center." Guzmán also played Gacha, a Colombian drug runner in the Netflix series, "Narcos," and Mikey O'Shea in "Shameless."
Speaking about opportunities for Latinx actors, he confirmed that he has seen a shift. "And when things evolve it's like, 'You know what, I don't have to play that anymore, I can play the dad, I can play the doctor, I can play the President'" he told the outlet. About playing the Addams family patriarch, the actor told New York Comic Con, per The Nerds of Color, "This, for me, is what dreams are made out of and I'm happy to be part of it."
Gwendoline Christie is a Game of Thrones fan favorite
Gwendoline Christie plays Principal Larissa Weems at Wednesday's high school in the Netflix series. The 6'3" English actor, who is best known for playing Brienne of Tarth in HBO's "Game of Thrones," never expected to become a fan favorite. "No one was more surprised than me that people liked my character," Christie told The Guardian in 2019. "I just assumed that, because she wasn't a conventionally attractive woman, people wouldn't get behind her. I'm overwhelmed that they did."
In 2014, Christie played Commander Lyme in Parts One and Two of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay," and she was also cast as Captain Phasma, a fierce stormtrooper in 2015's "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” and 2017's "The Last Jedi." As the action star told Tudum, the character was something of a game-changer. "This was a woman who was disconnected from that traditional female depiction of mother," she said. "... And also, badass."
You may recall Christie from "Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie" in 2016, or her turn as a cop having an affair with her boss in "Top of the Lake." In 2022, she took on one helluva role, playing Lucifer in the Netflix series, "The Sandman." Christie was surprised by one of the first questions the series creators asked her. "They said, 'We want to know what your conception of the role is. We want to know what your portrayal is."' And they were incredibly generous. They said, 'What's the point of hiring you if it isn't your version?"'
Christina Ricci has been acting since she was nine
Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in "The Addams Family" and its 1993 sequel, takes on a cameo role in "Wednesday" as Marilyn Thornhill, a teacher at Wednesday's school. She made her first film at age ten, sharing the screen with Cher and Winona Ryder in 1990's "Mermaids." After roles in "Casper" and "Then and Now," Ricci was on her way to becoming a teen icon. In 1998, she appeared as a curious adolescent in Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" — a film that apparently helped to shape the rest of her career. "It was the first movie I did that really reflected my personal taste in film," she told Slant Magazine in 2022.
From there, she went on to earn critical acclaim with offbeat roles in films like "The Opposite of Sex," "Buffalo 66," and "Monster," and officially established herself as a mature actor with an odd niche. "I'm always looking to play characters that aren't quite so normal or characters that maybe you haven't seen before," she told the Los Angeles Times. True to form, Ricci went on to depict the famed ax murderer in"The Lizzie Borden Chronicles," and in 2021, she earned an Emmy nod as unstable outcast Misty in Showtime's "Yellowjackets." Though the show gained a considerable following, Ricci wasn't aware of it. "I think that's one of the things about fame in general," she mused. "It's all happening outside of you. It's hard to actually feel it's real."
Riki Lindhome is a versatile TV and film actor
Riki Lindhome, who plays Dr. Valerie Kinbott in "Wednesday," is a singer, comedian, and TV and film actor. After playing Mardell Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood's 2004 film, "Million Dollar Baby," Lindhome joined the cast of "The Big Bang Theory" in its second season as Ramona Nowitzki, a grad student obsessed with Sheldon. Since then, you may have seen this indie star in a variety of high-profile projects including "Knives Out," "Grace & Frankie," and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
Lindholme and Kate Micucci make up the musical comedy duo, "Garfunkel and Oates," and the two created their own show based loosely on their real lives — to the apparent despair of HBO, those real lives weren't full of drama. "I think the network maybe wanted us to have some conflict because that's, you know, part of storytelling," Lindhome told NPR in 2014. "But we really had trouble having it between the two of us, and so we just had it with other characters."
Along with Natasha Leggero, the Pennsylvania native also starred in and co-created the Comedy Central series, "Another Period," a show about two wealthy sisters in turn-of-the-century Newport, Rhode Island. Reflecting on how the period piece felt startlingly relevant to culture today, she told Gold Derby in 2016. "People have always wanted to be famous. They were the same as us: there were classy people, and there were tacky people."
Jamie McShane has played some 'very damaged' guys
Jamie McShane, who plays Sheriff Donovan Galpin on "Wednesday," is a very busy character actor. He's played a gun dealer for the IRA on "Sons of Anarchy," a compassionate LAPD sergeant in "Southland," and he appeared in two of Ben Affleck's films, "Argo," and David Fincher's "Gone Girl." "I have played a lot of dark, dark, dark roles and a lot of guys who are very damaged, but I find something beautiful in all of them, something I can connect to," the actor told Galo.
In 2015, the actor was cast in as Eric O'Bannon in the Netflix series, "Bloodline." Speaking to Direct Submit, McShane explained that he didn't fit the original physical description of the character — "[A] long-haired, skinny, tattooed guy from the Keys" — but the character seemed to fit him, regardless. "Once I read the sides [audition scenes] I ... knew how I wanted to bring him to life."
The actor had a recurring role as Francis Sheehan on Amazon's "Bosch," played an evil attorney named Anson Wix on "CSI Vegas," and a cynical detective in Season 1 of "The Lincoln Lawyer." McShane once tried to quit acting when he was driving a truck to make ends meet. "But I never could," he told Foster's Daily Democrat in 2019. "Once I started getting co-starring and guest-starring roles it was never a thought of not wanting to do this anymore. It was always 'Where is the next job?'"
Hunter Doohan is a rising film and TV star
Hunter Doohan plays Tyler Galpin on "Wednesday." While he has only been acting since 2012, he has a few impressive projects under his belt. Three years after his acting debut, the young actor played Owen in "Coffee House Chronicles," a TV series and film about the lives and loves of LGBTQ+ people living in Los Angeles. Meanwhile the 2018 indie thriller, "Soundwave” was Doohan's first movie and first starring role. In it, he depicts a teenager consumed by grief who can listen to the past.
You may have also spotted the Arkansas native on an episode of "Westworld" or "What/If," or in the Apple TV+ series, "Truth Be Told," in which Doohan plays the younger version of Aaron Paul's convicted killer, Warren Cave. "The whole idea was that it was supposed to be shocking that [this teenager] could be convicted of such a brutal murder," he told Film Frenzy about the role.
In 2021, the "Breaking Bad" fan got the biggest break of his career, depicting the son of Bryan Cranston's character on Showtime's "Your Honor." "There are not many teens on shows like this, adult dramas, where they're so fully fleshed out and aren't just there to annoy their parents," Doohan told the New York Post. As for working side-by-side with the Emmy winner, he noted, "I wasn't quite as cool about it to say it was 'just another job.'"
Fred Armisen was a fixture on Saturday Night Live
Fred Armisen first appears as eccentric Uncle Fester in the seventh episode of "Wednesday." The talented actor and comedian will be a familiar face to fans of "Saturday Night Live." Over the course of his 11-year stint, he created many famous impressions, including his turn as President Barack Obama. "So they gave me a wig and stuck my ears out a little bit. A million things came together at once to make it happen," Armisen told Mustard.
In 2011, the star launched the comedy sketch show, "Portlandia," alongside Sleater Kinney guitarist, Carrie Brownstein and it became an instant hit. Just two years later, he announced his departure from "SNL," later telling Esquire, "I remember Amy Poehler telling me, 'You'll know when it's time to go. And don't worry, everyone stays in your life" — and many of them did.
Armisen went on to guest-star in Andy Samberg's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," Amy Poehler's show, "Parks and Recreation" and in "30 Rock" with former "Weekend Update" anchor, Tina Fey. He also played Tino in "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," which stars his former "SNL" castmate, Will Ferrell. Additionally, Armisen teamed up with Seth Meyers and Bill Hader on the mockumentary series, "Documentary Now!" And in 2021, he showed off his musical comedy skills as Reverend Howard Layton in the Apple TV+ series "Schmigadoon," which was created by "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels. It seems those "Saturday Night Live" connections have really paid off!